


Tea Time

by thebreathofafeather



Series: love me not with words [2]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Affection, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Gen, It/Its Pronouns for The Toy Soldier, Tea, food in this case being tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26674015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebreathofafeather/pseuds/thebreathofafeather
Summary: The Toy Soldier shows affection through tea, all the Mechanisms know this. It takes the time to learn how they take their tea, and the times that they want it, and it becomes a ritual for them all.
Relationships: The Toy Soldier & The Mechanisms
Series: love me not with words [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946266
Comments: 14
Kudos: 78





	Tea Time

**Author's Note:**

> this has been taken and very roughly edited from my original tumblr post, but it has stayed mostly the same.
> 
> TS uses It/Its in this work.

The Toy Soldier shows affection through tea, all the Mechanisms know this. It takes the time to learn how they take their tea, and the times that they want it, and it becomes a ritual for them all.   


  
The Toy Soldier first learns Jonny’s preference; he likes sweet black tea, or sweet iced peach tea, like they make in New Texas. TS doesn’t think it really counts as tea, but Jonny likes it and that’s what matters. It doesn’t take the Toy Soldier long to figure out that he likes his black tea hot in the morning and then the sweeter peach tea in the afternoon of Aurora’s cycle, and so the habit of TS bringing the crew’s tea begins.

Brian is the second one the Soldier discovers; Brian takes black tea with a little milk, and TS brings it to him in the quiet early morning hours. It brings more again in the evening after dinner. The Toy Soldier found this one out simply by watching Brian, who clearly had a habit of making himself tea at certain times. He won’t deny that TS makes it better than he does, however.

The next preference it learns is Ashes’s. They take lapsang souchong black, and TS gives them a piping hot thermos flask of tea in the morning of Aurora’s cycle and then another one after lunch. It took a little bit of time for this one to be found, as Ashes very rarely joined TS for afternoon tea, but once they did, Ashes quickly stated that the smoky tea was the best, and so the next habit started.

The Soldier first asked Ivy what kind of tea she liked when the Archivist first joined it for a tea party. At the time, Ivy wasn’t sure, but the two explored different flavours, and Ivy found herself requesting green tea at the now regular tea parties that TS held. So now TS knows that Ivy likes green tea, and will emerge from the library every so often to get some for herself. Aurora alerts TS and it makes the tea so that it’s ready when Ivy makes it to the kitchen. Ivy will press a kiss to TS’s cheek in thanks and will sit at the table with a book and read it aloud to TS as she drinks before going back into the library again. 

Nastya is the second person to join the Toy Soldier regularly for tea parties, and TS soon finds that she likes her chai tea with one sugar and some milk. Its warmth reminds her of her home. TS will bring her it when she gets too cold, and it will sit with her until she warms up enough to smile at it again. 

The Soldier found out Tim drinks a variety of flavours early on. Tim takes it as a challenge and starts asking TS to surprise him with new flavours, but the most important time for TS to bring Tim tea is in the middle of the night when nightmares have woken him up. TS will bring a sweet chamomile to him and will then sit with him and allow Tim to tell it about Bertie and the war.

Raphaella’s preference was one of the easiest to learn; she told TS almost immediately after it first offered her an invite to a tea party, telling it exactly how she took her tea. She stated that ginger and lemongrass tea supposedly keeps her mind running fast, and so TS added the preference to it’s list. Now, the Soldier brings it to her as a reminder to come out and see the crew when she gets too invested up in her work. 

Marius was arguably the hardest to discover, simply because the man wasn’t a huge fan of tea. He did do some exploration after TS’s first question, and together they found that he liked fruit teas. It’s still a rare occasion for Marius to drink tea, but he seeks out TS specifically for it, and the Toy Soldier loves making its friends happy, so it really doesn’t mind.

TS doesn’t exactly make _tea_ for Aurora but it does occasionally mix up weird engine oils with Nastya to make a somewhat bizarre cocktail for her and she seems to appreciate it, so it thinks that it counts.

It’s Ivy who first asks the Toy Soldier what tea it prefers, and it doesn’t have an answer, and so the next few tea parties are set to help TS find its own favourite. It takes a little while, but eventually TS decides that it’s favourite is the same as whoever its drinking with, because really, it’s Just Happy To Be Involved.

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first posted work for this fandom, so hi there? i've been lurking for a little while. 
> 
> I have a couple of other versions of this for other mechs, so they might pop up later if people are interested?


End file.
